AFTERMATH PROJECT
PhotoQ, Netherlands
Dec 11 2007
[omitted part in Dutch]
The work of all five photographers will be featured in the Spring 2009
publication, "War Is Only Half the Story, Volume 2," co-produced by
Aperture (New York), Mets and Schilt (Amsterdam), and The Aftermath
Project. The first volume in this series, featuring the work of the
2007 Aftermath Project winners and finalists, will be published in
Spring 2008.
This year’s grant was judged by Jeff Jacobson, photographer ("Melting
Point," Nazraeli Press) and a member of the board of The Aftermath
Project; Scott Thode, deputy picture editor, Fortune magazine; and
Sara Terry, photographer and founder of The Aftermath Project.
Kathryn Cook is an American photographer based in Istanbul whose work
is represented by Agence VU and Prospekt. Her project "Memory Denied:
Turkey and the Armenian Genocide" explores the memory of the Armenian
massacres that occurred during the decline of the Ottoman Empire in
the early 20th century. Recognized as "genocide" today by more than
a dozen countries, Turkey still vigorously rejects that claim. Cook’s
work follows the remains and traces of an ambiguous, dark history – the
definition of which is still being fought over nearly a century later.
Cook’s images reveal a subtle picture, a narrative of glimpses that
might exist only in the minds of those who remember, or who have heard
firsthand the accounts of the bloody purges. Her work also addresses
how violence committed nearly a century ago has manifested itself
in present-day Turkey’s national identity. And it explores the many
ways that the greater implications of memory and history continue to
resonate at home and abroad.
First Finalist Natela Grigalashvili, a Georgian photographer, won a
special onetime award of $2,500 for her project about refugees who
have fled conflicts in Abkhazia and South Ossetia, in the Caucasus
region, and have settled in villages in the mountains of Georgia.
Other finalists include Pep Bonet, a Spanish photographer represented
by NOOR, who submitted his ongoing project, "Faith in Chaos,"
about the lives of young people in post-conflict Sierra Leone,
including amputees, the blind, former child soldiers and those with
psychiatric challenges; German photographer Tinka Dietz, who proposed
a new project, "The Mines of Stari Trg," about a nowdefunct mine and
the miners who worked there, in the industrial complex of Trepca,
which has long been a symbol of the ethnic struggles of Kosovo; and
German photographer Christine Fenzl, who submitted her ongoing project,
"Looking Forward – Streetball," a look at the way many NGOs around the
world are using street ball in troubled and post-conflict settings,
particularly in their work with children (her proposal included
Cambodia, Afghanistan and Nigeria).
The Aftermath Project is a non-profit organization committed to
telling the other half of the story of conflict-the story of what it
takes for individuals to learn to live again, to rebuild destroyed
lives and homes, to restore civil societies, to address the lingering
wounds of war while struggling to create new avenues for peace. The
Aftermath Project provides grants to photographers to support their
efforts to document the aftermath of conflict around the world, and
seeks to help broaden the public’s understanding of the true cost of
war through publications, exhibitions, and educational outreach.
~U
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